Single Mom Dating, Part 1

Disclaimer: All names have been changed to protect the fools I have dated. This will be a series as I could fill a whole book with the crazies I have dated! :) 

When I became a Single Mom Superhero (yeah because us Single Mom's wear capes!) I wasn't sure how to get back out there into the dating game. I was depressed, sad, scared, lonely, and most importantly my heart had been shattered into millions of tiny fragments that I was unsure could be repaired. So my, at the time, happily married sister suggested what any good, loving sister would suggest. Start dating. But how I asked her. Her response....dating websites.

Let me digress for a moment. I should have known that her suggestion was a bad idea from the get go. Hell, she should have known it. This was my 2nd failed marriage. I am not proud of that fact, but fact it is. Sadly I met both of them on the internet. However neither was through an internet dating site. The first was when I was 19, fresh out of high school, unsure of what to do with my life. So when I had downtime, which I had a lot of, I hung out at my aunts and played on AOL. I visited a chatroom that was a member created room for people in my state. Much like anywhere on the internet, there were trolls. This guy was being obscenely rude to me, and another person stood up for me. He then proceeded to IM me and say "you can thank me later." Well he and I became friends, he had a girlfriend, but he was determined I would be a fantastic match for his best friend. A few weeks later he informed me that they had broken up and he was keeping me for himself. In my naive, young, and frankly all out stupid 19 year old head, this was a great idea! This guy and I clicked, I liked him, he was witty, charming, sweet, and seemed like a decent human being. So I agreed to meet him. I told my other aunt of this plan, which she immediately scolded me about and proceeded to tell me that this would only happen at her house, where I was safe, and my uncle could murder him and hide the body if he was a lunatic out for my blood. Well he came, we had a great time, and 2 weeks later I moved thousands of miles away from home with the guy. Married him 3 months later, and then he started abusing me. In every sense of the word. After over 3 years I got out!

Meanwhile my friend in TX and I had started visiting these fantasy gaming rooms, NOT SEXUAL FANTASY FOR THE RECORD, but more like sci fi fantasy. Well my character started talking to this really awesome character and they had developed a great story line based on magic and romance. This clearly led to us talking out of character. He became my best friend. He reminded me how I strong I was as I endured a divorce from a man who had been abusing me in a multitude of ways for years. When I felt weak, he reminded me how dangerous it would be to return. And through that I fell in love. Months later, after my divorce was finalized, he came to visit. We were definitely in love. We would have to be for him to drive 800 miles for the initial meeting! After 8 years and one Punky girl later, we parted ways. To me this was the biggest heartbreak I had ever endured, as I truly loved this man. He was, as I thought, my happily ever after. Luckily he is the father of my beautiful Punky girl, and he is a great one at that! And still one of my closest friends, as I know I can always count on him if I need anything. And it would be this devastation that would lead to my sisters suggestion, now after this little background, you can see why she should have never suggested this to me!

"Get out there and start dating, that's the only way you are going to get over him," she said to me as I was sitting on her couch crying a river of tears. So I busted out my trusty laptop, and I created a dating profile. Clearly I used my most flattering pictures, made myself sound mysterious, intriguing, sensual, and like quite the catch. And instantly I was getting messages and striking up conversations. And to be honest it actually did help. It took my  mind of the heartwrenching pain of going through with the divorce. It didn't help entirely, but it provided a nice distraction.

But as with all things that seem too good to be true, internet dating was a bad idea!

For the remainder of this long winded series, each bad decision guy will get their own blog post. Well unless they were so boring that I have to combine multiple ones into a post. But some of them truly deserve their own post due to their own special brand of effed up! Stay tuned for Single Mom Dating, Part 2 ~ Mr. I Like You But...